Importance of Organizational Learning and Development: Critical Analysis of Learning Theories and Models

This report discusses the importance of organizational learning and development, and critically analyzes various learning theories and models. It highlights the benefits of better organizational learning culture, and the role of organizational development. The report also covers the pros and cons of using cognitive learning theory during any learning process. The subject is learning and development, and the course code, name, and college/university are not mentioned.

Learning and development

Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..............................................................................................................................................3
Presenting the importance of organizational learning..............................................................................3
Critically analyzing various learning development theories, models and practices.................................6
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES............................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Learning and development helps the person to enhance certain skills, knowledge and
competencies that are essential for future growth and success. Further, the report will identify
the importance of organizational learning and development so that work could be carried out
smoothly without any problems or conflicts in the future. Moreover, the study will highlight the
benefits of better organizational learning culture that will allow the firm in retaining the best
talents at the workplace. Moreover, the report will also critically analyze various learning models
that are used by most of the individuals and firms in carrying out effective learning process.
Furthermore, the role of organizational development will also be explained under this study.
Lastly, pros and cons of using cognitive learning theory during any learning process will also be
covered under this report in detail.
MAIN BODY
Presenting the importance of organizational learning.
In the current era it is very essential that organizational learning is developed so that the
individual is able to adapt to the changing business environment and its functions. Also, it is very
important that learning process is practiced on regular basis so that long term success of the firm
could be gained. Moreover, learning can be either in form of individual, group or organizational
learning. Thus, organizational learning helps the in gaining important knowledge so that it can be
used later in the complex business situations (Fischer and Pöhler, 2018). Further, in the current
era where use of digital technology is very high it is very important that all types of organization
either small or big is updated with the changing business environment. Also, it is role of the
management that organizational learning is promoted in various ways such as through creating
knowledge in form of surveys, networking, study competitors etc. Moreover, once the
knowledge is created than the management need to ensure that it is retained in the firm for the
longer time in form of updating various systems and software’s. Finally, after this step the
gained knowledge must be transferred to other organizational community so that more people are
aware of the current business processes so that firm could strive for longer time in various
markets.

In context of learning and development it can be said that major goal is to align employee
goals with that of organization so that best results could be achieved. Also, for this purpose the
skill gaps are being identified among all the employees so that proper training could be allotted
than accordingly. Also, various learning strategies are developed by the management so that
business needs could be met (Siagan, Saragih and Sinaga, 2019). Also, proper alignment of the
business goals with learning department is done so that training process could be improved in the
best of manner. Moreover, effective training methods are also used by the firm so that various
concepts related to learning could be improved to greater extent. Thus, it can be said that
learning and development is slow process and thus results are not achieved immediately. Also, in
the current era learning helps the firm in retaining the top best talents than hiring process that is
quite expensive one especially for those organizations that have limited resources and time
available. Moreover, learning and development helps the organization in minimizing the overall
risk as untrained employees only results in wastage of resources and add unnecessary costs. It is
also known that those organizations that actively participate in the learning process tends to
develop learning culture at the workplace so that better success could be achieved. Hence,
organizational learning is effective tool that helps in following manner:
Boosts employee satisfaction: Learning in any form creates feeling and sense of
satisfaction for all employee’s that are eager to understand certain organizational concepts for the
future personal growth and development (Ulandari, Amry and Saragih, 2019). Also, acquiring
such type of learning help the individual to take certain responsibilities that is beyond its
expectations.
Increases efficiency and productivity: Better learning at any workplace helps the
person to improve the existing knowledge base and also improves his/ her way of conducting
certain things. Thus, it helps in increasing the overall productivity that is required for any firm to
conduct better operations in future.
Helps in generating larger profits: Learning and development also helps the firm in
generating maximum revenues as employees are very well known with existing business work
culture and thus are able to deliver best results in limited time period. Thus, this helps in
maximizing the sales for the firm (Li and Wong, 2018).

Makes organization adaptable: For every organization effective learning among the
employees helps the firm in adapting to various business changes in most effective manner. Also,
more organizations are able to adapt to changes than better is the working and thus chances of
conflicts and risks are also very minimum. Thus, continuous improvement helps the firm in
introducing new changes within the firm easily without much hesitation among the workers.
Better work culture: Learning helps in developing the culture that is highly advanced
and is according to the current business needs and requirements. Also, such type of culture
values employees and is also bests fit for those individuals that wants to enhance the productivity
and competitiveness to greater extent (Harris and Jones, 2019).
Knowledge sharing: To the larger extent it can be said that individual not only acquires
knowledge through various groups but also plays a key role in sharing this type of knowledge to
other individuals that were not part of the training sessions or surveys conducted by the firm.
Hence, it helps in faster decision making and problem solving that is very good for any firm.
Thus, it can be said that with better organizational learning and development programs
the firm is able to enhance the customer satisfaction and empower the employees in way that
adds in the goodwill for the company (Tait, 2018). Moreover, with greater level of employee
engagement the firm would be able to achieve better business outcomes that contribute more in
the organizational growth and success. Hence, with better organizational development firm’s
capability is improved in the terms of better alignment of strategy, structure, rewards, people
management process etc. Moreover, organizational development could be done either in the form
of removing any particular product line, improving the community relations, creating better
project management system, develop better service customer training etc. so that better company
reputation will drive larger amount of sales for the business (Spivakovsky and et.al., 2019).Also,
with proper development programs the firm communication within the employees are also
increased that helps in collecting feedback if any problems are found out so that corrective
measures could be taken on time.
Furthermore, employee’s development is done on larger extent that is able to handle
certain market changes in best of manner and also develop required amount of skills that is
needed in conducting any kind of business. However, if any firm fails in developing the

developing the proper organization structure for learning than it will only create problems for the
firm as internal management operations would not be managed in proper way. Moreover,
strategic management of such type of firms will also be very weak as the firm is not able to take
certain production and scheduling process and is unable to do proper succession planning that is
essential for the running of the business for longer time period (Dwiyogo, 2018). Also, for better
learning the firm need to ensure that it creates clear and transparent business policies that will
help in communicating the business goals in most efficient manner. Furthermore, better team
work and transformation allows the firm in creating the environment where all employees work
happily and stress free to achieve certain business goals.
Critically analyzing various learning development theories, models and practices.
There are various types of learning development theories that could be used by individual
to make the learning process much easier. Also, there various types of learning models that are
present that make the learning process much easier (Mezirow, 2018). One of the most popular
model among this is Kolb learning style model that believes that any learner goes through four
stages of learning so that experiences could be transformed into knowledge’s. Also, based on this
model the first stage in this is concrete experience where each learner engages in some type of
tasks or activity as part of learning. Thus, it helps the person to acquire new skills and knowledge
about any particular concepts (Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory & Learning Styles, 2022).
Next in this model is the reflective observation in which certain questions are asked by the
learner and the experience is discussed with others. Moreover, communication is the key element
that is used in this stage as it helps in clear understanding and better learning among various
diverse groups. After this stage is abstract conceptualization where learner attempts to draw
certain conclusions based on the knowledge that is acquired during the learning process. Also, in
this stage learner interprets various experiences and make comparisons based on the current
understanding and knowledge so that new information if any could be analyzed completely from
others.
Last in stage is active experimentation stage in which learners participates in certain
tasks and based on the previous learning various conclusions are drawn and future plans are
being made. Thus, this stage helps the learner in retaining the information for the longer time
period as it is practically implied and certain weakness have been found out (Siegle, Amspaugh

and Mitchell, 2021). Moreover, based on the idea of Kolb it is essential that learning cycle is
followed completely so that effective learning could be developed and also as each stage is
dependent on others it is very important that the cycle is followed in right manner so that new
knowledge could be gained in the end by the individual. Also, the first stage in the Kolb learning
cycle could be gained through working collaboratively in groups (Supriyatno, Susilawati and
Ahdi, 2020). Further, the second stage could be in form of completing independent exercises
without the help of instructor or through attending classic teacher class lecture. The third stage
for the individual learner could in form of workbooks or spreadsheets or either in form of
interactive activities. The last stage in this process would be taken in form of independent
discovery relating to new concepts. However, the major limitation using such type of learning
model is that it might result in false conclusions where the individual might not be able to
explain the new changes and experiences. Also, if there is lac of disconnection in learner while
obtaining certain knowledge than there are chances that results might not be very good.
Moreover, other type of learning model that is helpful and quite used by most of the
organizations and individual is VARK model of learning style that describes that individual
learner are based on four types such as visual, auditory, reading writing and kinesthetic.
Moreover, based on understanding these categories the information could be passed on the
learner so that there are no problems or chances of confusion in later times (Putri, 2019). Also, in
regards to first category that is visuals it can be said that these are those learners who prefers
learning through use of charts, graphs, labelled diagrams and other visuals so that easy
understanding could be developed. Furthermore, in case of auditory learners are the ones that
focus more on the words and speech of others to get the idea what speaker wants to address.
Next in this model is read and write learners that prefers learning more in text format rather
than the listening carefully.
Also, these learners tend to make short type notes for all the data so that it could be later
reviewed and remembered carefully. Moreover, the data collected in classes could be later
converted into form of presentations by the readers so that more benefit could gained from the
learning style. The last in this model is kinesthetic learners that spends lot of time in spending
in passive learning. Here the learner learns in the combination of both visual or auditory
techniques leading to multi-sensory learning (Barr, 2019). Further, the learner in this technique

tends to learn through conducting any task and not by only reading and memorizing. Thus, this
method is very effective learning style model that ensures better flexibility based on the different
learning environments. However, it is critically said that this model has major limitation that it
cannot accommodate all learning styles based on different individuals as it involves excessive
amount of hands on learning. Also, it requires lot of patience and guidance and also it is very
time consuming method that could be adopted in any kind of learning course (Sari and Setiawan,
2018)..
Also, there are various types of learning theories that includes behaviorism, cognitive,
constructivism, collectivism etc. that helps in making learning better. One of the most common
theory that will be discussed is cognitive learning theory that helps in identifying how brain
potential could be maximized to greater extent. Also, it refers to the mental ability of the person
to absorb and retain most of the useful information through various experiences, senses and
knowledge (Cognitive Learning, 2022). Also, there are various components of the cognitive
learning such as comprehension, memory, application and much more. Thus, this types of
learning helps the individual in enhancing the learning power, boost down the confidence,
enhance the comprehension, improve the problem solving skills etc. Moreover, this type of
learning helps the individual to learn new things faster while obtaining the previous ones also.
However, this learning theory has also faced various criticism that is based purely on inferences
and thus other individual cannot be completely sure that memory of the person is changed or not.
Also, this model ignores various other factors that has resulted in demonstrating any kind of
uncertain behavior of the individual (Walsh, McGuinness and Sproule, 2019). Moreover, this
theory is not directly observable and hence it is not effective when applied to important areas.
Also, there is lack of ecological validity that sometimes false setting does not represent the real
world.
Thus from the above all learning theories and models it can be said that learning process
could be made easier in all types of situations and it is ability and willingness of the individual
that makes things work out actually in practical world (Darling-Hammond and Oakes, 2021).
Moreover, the individual should always aim for continuous learning so that sudden pressure in
not created when lot of learning needs to be gained in specific time frame.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that organisational learning and development
allows the individual to learn new concepts that would be helpful in accordance with changing
business environment. Moreover, the study had analysed that through continuous learning the
person might be able to share lot of information across various places that is essential for the
personal growth and development. Also, the study had identified the role of organisational
learning in improving the overall productivity and efficiency of the employees. Furthermore, the
report had critically analysed various learning models such as VARK and Kolb learning model
that enables the individual in learning newer concepts in much easier manner. Also, certain
components of this models had also been explained in detail under this report. Lastly, cognitive
learning theory along with its certain merits and demerits had also been identified.

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